Assessment Academy Experience
The Assessment Academy provides a structured, mentor-facilitated program aimed at advancing and accelerating an institution’s efforts to assess student learning.
Four-Year Academy Experience and Membership
Framework 
The Academy framework consists of in-person events, on-campus activities, online project updates and virtual consultations that help institutions design and implement a customized project to improve learning through assessment.
Program Structure
Orientation: HLC presents an in-depth overview of the Academy, how it works, and the expectations and opportunities associated with membership.
Context Questions: The team provides contextual information about its institution, including background on its assessment efforts and ongoing needs.
Roundtable: At this in-person, multi-day event, HLC provides an overview of promising practices in assessment planning as well as guidance on building the Academy Project.
Project Update and Response—Planning: The team documents its preliminary project plan as defined at the Roundtable, highlighting desired outcomes and strategies to achieve them, and receives feedback from its assigned mentor and Scholar.
Project Update and Response—Development: The team details any challenges in launching its Academy Project during the first year and any refinements to its project’s scope and receives feedback from its assigned mentor and Scholar.
Project Update and Response—Implementation: The team describes the project’s initial implementation and what it has begun to discover about student learning and receives feedback from its assigned mentor and Scholar.
Project Update and Response—Reflection: The team reflects on its accomplishments thus far, defines opportunities for continued improvement and receives feedback from its assigned mentor and Scholar.
Midpoint Roundtable: Teams share progress, seek advice from other participants and receive in-person guidance to help keep the Academy Project moving forward.
Project Update and Response—Refinement: The team documents the refinement of its project scope and action plans for the final two years of the program and receives feedback from its assigned mentor and Scholar.
Third-Year Consultation: The Mentor consults virtually with the team to review progress, offer suggestions about implementing strategies and provide recommendations to help ensure that the team meets its goals.
Project Update and Response—Evaluation: The team begins to critically evaluate its progress and receives feedback from its assigned mentor and Scholar.
Project Update and Response—Expansion: The team considers remaining tasks and opportunities for using the Academy Project as a catalyst for further improvement and receives feedback from its assigned mentor and Scholar.
Impact Report (part 1): The team identifies its accomplishments and promising practices to share with the class.
Results Forum: Teams share their findings and successes and receive guidance on developing a sustainability plan to continue building on the progress made in the Academy.
Impact Report (part 2) and Response: The team documents its sustainability plan and receives feedback from its assigned mentor and Scholar on its overall project and its plans to continue improvement efforts beyond the Academy.
For institutions in the Open Pathway: The Impact Report validates the institution’s completion of the Academy and serves as the Quality Initiative Report.
SparQ
SparQ is HLC's online platform for project management, resource sharing, discussion and discovery, where participants can be inspired by new ideas and build a community of shared learning. In addition to posting required progress updates and receiving mentor feedback through SparQ, team members can take part in topic-based discussion groups with fellow Academy participants and receive additional guidance from program leaders through blogs and Q&A forums.
Academy Teams
Institutions participate by creating teams to attend Academy events and carry out the on-campus activities. A team is made up of five to eight individuals and should include members of the faculty, staff and administration. The Academy Orientation provides guidance on selecting members and leaders of institutional teams.
Each team is assigned a Mentor and a Scholar who provide support for the duration of the Academy experience.
